'Exhilarating' Views from New Observation Deck 1,200 Feet Above NYC

A man records a video from the observation deck of the still under construction One Vanderbilt tower in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, May 11, 2021. (Reuters)
A man records a video from the observation deck of the still under construction One Vanderbilt tower in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, May 11, 2021. (Reuters)
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'Exhilarating' Views from New Observation Deck 1,200 Feet Above NYC

A man records a video from the observation deck of the still under construction One Vanderbilt tower in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, May 11, 2021. (Reuters)
A man records a video from the observation deck of the still under construction One Vanderbilt tower in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, May 11, 2021. (Reuters)

A new skyscraper in New York's midtown Manhattan that towers 150 feet above the Empire State Building transports visitors in glass elevators up the sides of the building to an observation deck high above the city.

The 1,401-foot (427 m)-tall skyscraper, dubbed One Vanderbilt, is a $3.3 billion development adjacent to Grand Central Terminal.

It is the fourth-tallest in New York City, after One World Trade at 1,776 feet, Central Park Tower at 1,550 feet, and 111 West 57th Street at 1,428 feet. Its observation deck, Summit One Vanderbilt, is a four-level, 65,000-square-foot space atop the skyscraper.

The Empire State Building, built in the 1930s, is 1,250 feet tall.

"Visitors will have the opportunity to take those glass elevators that were fabricated in Italy by a gondola maker... to a height of over 1,200 feet for vistas of New York City that are really unparalleled," said Marc Holliday, chairman and chief executive officer of SL Green Realty Corp.

"When you sit up here and you look out at this vista, there's no better shot of downtown, the Empire State Building... it's just very exhilarating."

The observation deck will open to the public on Oct. 21.



Europe's Oldest Lake Settlement Uncovered in Albania

A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci
A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci
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Europe's Oldest Lake Settlement Uncovered in Albania

A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci
A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci

Archaeologists working on the shores of Ohrid Lake in Albania are convinced they have uncovered the oldest human settlement built on a European lake, finding evidence of an organized hunting and farming community living up to 8,000 years ago. The team, from Switzerland and Albania, spends hours each day about three meters (9.8 feet) underwater, painstakingly retrieving wooden stilts that supported houses.

The are also collecting bones of domesticated and wild animals, copper objects and ceramics, featuring detailed carvings.

Albert Hafner, from the University of Bern, said similar settlements have been found in Alpine and Mediterranean regions, but the settlements in the village of Lin are half a millennium older, dating back between 6,000 and 8,000 years.

"Because it is under water, the organic material is well-preserved and this allows us to find out what these people have been eating, what they have been planting," Hafner said.

Multiple studies show that Lake Ohrid, shared by North Macedonia and Albania, is the oldest lake in Europe, at over one million years.

The age of the findings is determined through radiocarbon dating and dendrochronology, which measures annual growth rings in trees. More than one thousand wood samples have been collected from the site, which may have hosted several hundred people.

It is believed to cover around six hectares, but so far, only about 1% has been excavated after six years of work.

Hafner said findings show that people who lived on the lake helped to spread agriculture and livestock to other parts of Europe.

"They were still doing hunting and collecting things but the stable income for the nutrition was coming from the agriculture," he said.

Albanian archaeologist Adrian Anastasi said it could take decades to fully explore the area.

"(By) the way they had lived, eaten, hunted, fished and by the way the architecture was used to build their settlement we can say they were very smart for that time," Anastasi said.